From: Alan Mackenzie <acm@muc.de>
To: Michael Heerdegen <michael_heerdegen@web.de>
Cc: Andreas Schwab <schwab@linux-m68k.org>, 25461@debbugs.gnu.org
Subject: bug#25461: Missing doc strings for "," and ",@".
Date: Wed, 18 Jan 2017 19:28:48 +0000 [thread overview]
Message-ID: <20170118192848.GA4108@acm.fritz.box> (raw)
In-Reply-To: <87h94xdtvn.fsf@web.de>
Hello, Michael.
On Wed, Jan 18, 2017 at 02:44:28AM +0100, Michael Heerdegen wrote:
> Alan Mackenzie <acm@muc.de> writes:
> > I don't expect the typical novice Elisp hacker cares about such nice
> > distinctions. She can get a doc string for `, so why not one for , or
> > ,@?
> ' and #' also "don't have a docstring". That ` "has a docstring" is
> just coincidence - because the reader transforms
> `expr
> to
> (` expr)
> and the symbol ` has an associated symbol-function.
I'm sure that's true. But ' is not really difficult enough to need a
doc string (IMAO). Well, it didn't used to be, before it became
(ab)used by pcase. #' could certainly do with one, I think.
But in my patch (which I expect to post within a few minutes of this
post), I have created a mechanism by which other reader macros can have
doc strings added.
> FWIW when I first saw `, , and ,@, it looked strange enough to me to
> open the manual, because the syntax seemed so unusual that I believed
> that I missed an essential part of knowledge about Elisp. At least this
> is what I think happened...
Yes, but unless you're a genius, you probably had to look at the manual
several times before you internalised the meaning of , and ,@, with a
fair bit of practice in between. During that practice, you might well
have found opening the manual to have been a hassle which you could have
avoided, had there been doc strings at the time.
> But I agree that some people might try C-h f on any of these, and we
> would not all die if we would show something useful in this case. We
> could just say that C-f explains symbol functions and "reader macros"
> and the thing would still be consistent.
Or, not say anything at all - just do it. C-h f after all does explain
named functions. That it also explains a couple of reader macros as a
bonus hardly needs going on about.
> OTOH, I think that saying anything about `pcase' there would be a bad
> idea.
I disagree. I was confused fairly badly for a long time when pcase
appeared (without announcement, IIRC) and purloined the reader macros
which, up till then, had had single definite functionalities. I assume
other people were and will be confused by pcase usages, so it will do no
harm to draw people's attention towards them. Anyhow, I've included a
sentence about pcase at the end of the proposed doc string for ,. I
don't think pcase uses ,@, or at least I haven't seen any such use of it.
> Michael.
--
Alan Mackenzie (Nuremberg, Germany).
next prev parent reply other threads:[~2017-01-18 19:28 UTC|newest]
Thread overview: 27+ messages / expand[flat|nested] mbox.gz Atom feed top
2017-01-16 21:22 bug#25461: Missing doc strings for "," and ",@" Alan Mackenzie
2017-01-17 19:34 ` Glenn Morris
2017-01-17 19:56 ` Alan Mackenzie
2017-01-17 20:36 ` Andreas Schwab
2017-01-17 20:41 ` Alan Mackenzie
2017-01-17 20:53 ` Andreas Schwab
2017-01-18 1:44 ` Michael Heerdegen
2017-01-18 19:28 ` Alan Mackenzie [this message]
[not found] ` <handler.25461.B.148460180922707.ack@debbugs.gnu.org>
2017-01-18 19:43 ` bug#25461: [Patch]: " Alan Mackenzie
2017-01-19 0:16 ` npostavs
2017-01-19 17:37 ` Alan Mackenzie
2017-01-19 18:10 ` Noam Postavsky
2017-01-19 18:36 ` Alan Mackenzie
2017-01-20 0:24 ` Michael Heerdegen
2017-01-19 2:23 ` Michael Heerdegen
2017-01-19 17:58 ` Alan Mackenzie
2017-01-20 0:12 ` Michael Heerdegen
2017-01-20 16:58 ` Alan Mackenzie
2017-01-21 2:26 ` Michael Heerdegen
2017-01-21 15:56 ` Alan Mackenzie
2017-01-21 20:46 ` bug#25461: [Patch #2]: " Alan Mackenzie
2017-01-24 1:58 ` Michael Heerdegen
2017-01-24 19:43 ` Alan Mackenzie
2017-01-24 4:01 ` npostavs
2017-01-24 19:39 ` Alan Mackenzie
2017-01-24 20:00 ` Noam Postavsky
2017-01-23 19:09 ` bug#25461: [Patch]: " Alan Mackenzie
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